Politics of murder became order of the day in CPM-ruled Kerala. Two brutal political murders involving the Muslim outfit SDPI and the BJP reported today. These two incidents happened within 12 hours in the Alappuzha district. State BJP OBC Morcha secretary Ranjeet Srinivas (40) was hacked to death in the Alappuzha district in the wee hours of Sunday.
The attackers barged into his house last night and attacked him. The 40-year-old leader was a BJP candidate in the 2016 Assembly elections in the Alappuzha constituency. He was an advocate by profession.
Renjith, a lawyer by profession, was the BJP candidate in the Alappuzha assembly constituency in the 2016 election. He also worked in various posts in the Bharatheeya Vicharakendram and many other posts in the BJP and allied organizations.
One year ago, an RSS worker was hacked to death at Vayalar near Cherthala. Few SDPI activists were arrested in connection with the murder and are in jail. With the BJP’s leader’s killing, prohibitory order was clamped. Eleven people have reportedly been taken into custody, in the murder of Ranjit Sreenivas.
Earlier, KS Shan, the state secretary of the SDPI in Kerala, was brutally attacked last night, at Mannancherry in the district, while he was on his way home. The SDPI leader was on his way home when a car rammed into his bike and as he fell down, the assailants assaulted him leading to his death, police said. Shan succumbed to his injuries at a Kochi hospital around midnight, police said.
The BJP has accused Popular Front of India (PFI) of murdering Ranjeet Sreenivas. Condemning the killing of BJP leader, state party president K Surendran said that Ranjeet was hacked to death by ‘PFI terrorists’ in broad daylight. Surendran claimed that the PFI has murdered three BJP-RSS leaders in the last two months and accused the state government of not taking any action against the murderers.
Minister of State for Skill Development and Entrepreneurship Rajeev Chandrasekhar also condoled the death of the OBC leader at the hands of ‘terror elements’ and said that the incident should serve as a wake-up call for the Pinarayi Vijayan government to stop ‘appeasing’ violent groups and ‘allowing’ Kerala to become a safe haven for violent groups.
Meanwhile, Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan has strongly condemned the twin murders. He has said that the police will act sternly to nab the culprits and those behind them. “These kinds of narrow and inhuman violent acts are dangerous for a land. It’s sure that the people will realise and isolate the murderers and their hate moves,” the CM said in a statement.
